War Photographer: Stanza Two

“War Photographer: Stanza Two” - Setting and Mood

  • The second stanza takes us to the darkroom, a confined space where the photographer develops his pictures.
  • The darkroom’s ominous red light serves as a symbolic reminder of the bloodshed captured in the pictures.
  • The solitude and silence of the darkroom contrast starkly with the chaotic scenes depicted in the images.
  • Duffy’s use of a simile comparing the darkroom to a church adds a sombre tone.

The Photographer’s Process and Emotions

  • The labour-intensive method of developing film by hand is paradoxically calm compared to the brutal events being revealed in the photos.
  • The tranquility of his work process contrasts with the emotional turmoil the photographer is experiencing.
  • This internal conflict becomes evident as a tear trickles from the man’s eye (‘a half-formed ghost’).
  • His work, though mechanical and meticulous (‘he is finally alone with spools of suffering’), is also fraught with moral and emotional weight.

The Power of Images

  • The potent memory of war—the ‘half-formed ghost’—becomes a vivid reality in this stanza, showing the power images have to resurrect past trauma.
  • One powerful image, in particular, of a man’s ‘agonies in black and white’ serves to humanise the horrific impact of war.
  • The sequence of photos developed in the darkroom acts as a chronicle of suffering, told not in words but in haunting visuals.

War and Society

  • The photographer’s process of uncovering his pictures mirrors society’s evasion in facing the realities of war until they are presented graphically.
  • The complacency and ignorance of the home front (‘Rural England’) is highlighted, showing the divide between the war front and the domestic front.
  • Despite the harsh realities presented in his photos, the photographer understands his work is often ‘a hundred agonies [are] in black-and-white for Sunday’s supplements’, suggesting society’s desensitisation to the horrors of war.

When discussing this stanza in an analysis or essay, be sure to refer specifically to Duffy’s use of contrasting imagery, symbolism, and emotional language, as well as the wider societal implications explored in her poem “War Photographer”. Remember, it’s not just about what Duffy says, but how she says it.